Tennis-ball-covering machine



'Mar 9, '1929. F. w. GESALMAN TENNIS BALL COVERING MACHINE Filed March29, 1928 s sheets-sheet INVENTOR v Mlamfia 1%, 1929. w, GESALMAN1,706,384

TENNIS BALL COVERING MACHINE Filed March 2'9, 192 8 7 s Sheets-Sheet 2INVENTOR WITNESSES am Ml/ow arch 19, 1929. F, W, GESALMAN 1,706,384

TENNIS BALL COVERING MACHINE I Filed March 29, 1928 s Sheets-Sheet 3WITNESSES INVENTOR Patented Mar. 19, 1929.

. UNITED S A ES;

rm w. ensanuan, or eannnsnnne, PENNSYLVANIA, assrenon' 'ro rnunsm vanmRUBBER ooura w, or mammr'rn, rENNsYLvANIa, 'A conronarroaf orPENNSYLVANIA.

Application n ce mt 29,1928. Serial No. team.

This inventionrelates to improvements in I 'or support here shown as ablock 9% apparatus for covering balls with pliant sheet material, and,though not limited to balls of particular material or size -orcharacter, it finds application in the covering of rubber tennis ballswith fabric, and in that application I shall show and describe it. Inthe accompanyin drawings Fig. I is a viewin plan; Fig. 1%, lflvation;and Fig. III, a view in side elevation of amachine embodying myinvention.

' Twocups 1 are mounted in axial alignment in a suitable frame. One atleast of these two cups is axiallymovable, and the l proportions aresuch that. on recession the I pair of cups will receive between them therubber ball to be covered, and will then ad vance to engage at oppositepoles a ball in place between them. The cups make their engagementyieldingly upon the hall, and a convenient and adequate arrangement isthat shown. The two cups 1 are .mounted on rotatable shafts 2 and 8.These shafts are.

in this instance, both of them, axially 'movtrolled by a weighted handlever a The.

lever, fulcrumed at an interval from the pointof engagement, engages byits bifurcated work arm a block 5 upon shaft 3.

so This block and a corresponding block 6 on shaft 2 are linked to avertically moving slide 7, to the end'that the swinging of lever 4:effects simultaneous and opposite reciprocation of the two cups '1. Itwill be per-, ceived that an attendant may swing the hand lever, tocause the space atwhichthe cups stand apart to, widen and, that whenthe. attendant releases the lever, the weight may be adequate to causethe cups to close 40 upon a ball introduced between them, and

to hold the ball to place. The yielding pressure under which the ballissecured will not be so great as appreciably to crush and distort theball,and it'will be great enough to as cause the engaged ball (andthrough the ball, Y

shaft 2 also) to rotate, when shaft 3 rotates, with sufiicient force toovercome'the resistance due to engagement with the cover ma- ;terial inthe manner to be described. It 59 will. be observed of the '.ballengaging and driving means that, engaging the ball oppositelyat oppositepolar reg1ons, they leave the surface of the ball free overa. med alequatorial region.

. chine.

a ;view 1n front eleplace between the cups.

Adjacently placed is a movable platform engaged by suitable guides inthe frame 0 the ma- This block is so situated that its face extends in aplane substantially tangent to a ball in lace between the cups, and inits .movement t e face of the block recirocates in that plane. The faceof the lock is adapted to receive and carry a sheet of cover material. a

The block 9 is reciprocated by hand in its gulde way in left to rightdirection, as seen in Fig. 1H, and to such end it is equi ped w1th ahandle 16. Means are provide for causing shaft 3, and with shaft 3 asupported ball and shaft 2 also, to rotate simulis borne on a shaft12,.and fromshaft 12 a gear train 13, 1a, 15, 8 leads to shaft 8.

Gear wheel 8 is borne on shaft 3. The ar-' rangement and proportions aresuch as to achleve that coordination of movement just defined: whenblock 9 advances, a ball borne by and between cups 1, 1 rotates (incounterclockwise direction, Fig. III) at an equatorialspeed equal to thespeed of advance of block 9; y J

At the beginning of operation a sheet of material resting on the block 9is at its forward end at or near tan gemcy to a ball in reciprocation isthrough an'interval as reat as the arc of ball curvature to be covere In0 eration of the machine the ball is carried tirough a suflicientfraction of a complete rotation, and-engagement of the ball with thecover material causes the ball to pick the he range of block.

material up, so that in one complete reciprocation the machine wraps thematerial accugaiiely and evenly upon an equator of the a V I I A tennisball is covered with two pieces 'of heavy fabric, ordinarily calledfelt. The

or narrowest part. These pieces of fabric placed on the then, theprepared rubber ball being in poare,'preparatory to application, coatedon one side with cement. n the operation of my machine a iece of fabricis accuratel lock, cement face up, an

sition between the cups, operation of the machine wraps the weeaccurately on a great circle around t 0 ball. The. shaping of thewrapped-on piece laterally to the spherical contour of the ballmay bedone by hand, and the application of the second and complementary pieceof cover material may also be made by. hand. The machine efiectsthe'accurate and rapid placement of the firstpiece; J a

I claim as my invention: a

1. In apparatus for applyip a cover to a ball, ball-supporting means aapted to enpage the ball adjacent opposite poles, means or supporting aiece of pliant cover material, and means or simultaneously advancin thecover-supporting means and for rothe ball-supporting means.

tatmg 2. n apparatus for applying a cover to my hand. Y

a ball, a pair of oppositely borne, relatively and oppositely movable,and rotatable cups, means or yieldingly maintaining said cups inproximate position, a reciprocable cover carrier,"and means forsimultaneously reciprocating said carrier and rotating one of said cups.

3. In apparatus for applying a cover to a ball, means for sup orting aball and for ro tating the sup orteg rying face exten ing throughout therange of reciprocation in a constant plane, tangent to a supported balland means coordinated with the slidefortdriving the ball-rotating means.

4. The apparatus'of claim 3, the coordination of means beingsuch thatthe ball rotates at an equatorial speed equal to that of thecover-carryin slide. a

In testimony whereof I hav hereunto set FRED w. GESALMANJ ball on adiameter, a reclprocable s11 e rovlded with a cover-car-f

